Sending DMCA Complaint from Community Site

[yoyom]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? California

I host an image gallery site with hundreds of thousands of images and tens of thousands of artists. They post images to this site while keeping their copyright to these images.

Recently I have learned that a site in Europe has copied hundreds if not thousands of these images and the titles to these images and republished them on their own site. They have shrunk the images around 40% but they are clearly visible, not like a thumbnail. In the terms of my site it states that I may act on behalf of the copyright holder in case of infringement by other sites.

May these images legally be used by the other site if they did not get permission from the copyright holder?

May I send a DMCA complaint to the search engines so that these pages are removed from the search index?

If I may not do this, is there anything I can change in the terms to allow me to send a DMCA request legally?

May I legally send a cease and desist letter to their host asking that these pages be shutdown? Thank you.

 

[divgradcurl]

May these images legally be used by the other site if they did not get permission from the copyright holder?

May I send a DMCA complaint to the search engines so that these pages are removed from the search index?

If I may not do this, is there anything I can change in the terms to allow me to send a DMCA request legally?

May I legally send a cease and desist letter to their host asking that these pages be shutdown?

The problem you have, as you might have guessed, is that the group that is infringing is not located in the U.S. Certainly if the webhosting was taking place in the U.S., you would be able to use the DMCA provisions to get the materials removed, at least initially -- however, just because the images are viewable in the U.S. doesn't make the foreign ISP subject to U.S. laws or U.S. jurisdiction.

So, the answer to your questions are, "can you do these things," the answer is yes. However, will it do any good -- probably not, unless the ISP is just willing to cooperate. The search engines will likely comply with a 17 USC 512(c) request -- but there really isn't anything you can do to the actual infringer unless you are willing to travel to their home country and sue them there.

 

[yoyom]

That would be great to be able to send a DMCA complaint to the search engines. So just to confirm, even though I am not the copyright holder, given what is stated in the site's terms, it is legal to send a DMCA request to the search engines in the US? This would not be considered fraud? Thank you.

 

[divgradcurl]

So just to confirm, even though I am not the copyright holder, given what is stated in the site's terms, it is legal to send a DMCA request to the search engines in the US?

Well, I guess it would depend on what rights exactly you have been given by the copyright owners. 17 USC 512(c)(3)(A)(i) states that the DMCA request include "[a] physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed." If your TOS authorizes you to take action, either explicitly or implicitly, you can send the request in.